JEDDAH, 15 March 2008 — Eastern Province finished 1-2 in the centerpiece Masters event and watched Riyadh miss out on the medals on Thursday night to win the 2nd Saudi Districs Bowling Championship at the Al-Gosaibi Hotel Bowling Center in Alkhobar.
Abduh Al-Barqi and Adeeb Al-Khulaifi clinched the Masters gold and silver medals to give Eastern Province a final medal tally of 2 golds and 3 silvers. The bronze medal went to Makkah team courtesy of Faisal Sugati.
Defending champions Riyadh led when the field was cut by half to 12 for the Masters but not one of their players figured in the medal contests as they surrendered their crown to the host bowlers.
After a sweep of the singles medals on opening day Riyadh won the five-man team event on Wednesday and looked well on the way to retaining their title.
But they had to settle for the runner-up position with a 2-2-2 medal tally no thanks to their shocking collapse in the Masters. Makkah took third place with one gold and three bronze medals. Asir, the fourth team in the fold, were without a medal.
Thus ended a week of tough competition featuring the best 24 bowlers from four teams in the Kingdom.
Eastern Province team captain Maeith Al-Qahtani expressed his happiness in winning the cup especially after an exciting and strong competition against the fancied Riyadh team who won at least a medal in all but one of the five events contested.
“Having the best bowlers in Saudi, and in Arab and Asian levels was an enriching experience too,” said Al-Qahtani who had been training for two weeks with his team for this tournament. Al-Qahtani thanked the Saudi Bowling Federation for their support. He said it enabled Saudi bowling to grow with the local competitions being staged to identify the distinguished players. He said each year they have four local championships, and were glad this event resumed after being stopped for three years.
On behalf of Saudi Youth Welfare President Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, Ibrahim Al-Turki, general director at the Eastern Province’s Saudi Youth Welfare office, handed the cup in addition to the gold medals to the Eastern Province team, as well the silver medals to Riyadh and bronze medals to Makkah team. Saudi Bowling Federation President Ibrahim Al-Juraifani attended the awarding ceremony. On Wednesday, Riyadh bannered by Prince Abdulhakim ibn Mousaed, Prince Mohammed ibn Sultan, Fahd Al-Hujailan, brothers Badr and Hassan Al-Sheikh won the five-man team gold after carding 5,784 pinfalls. Silver medal in the event went to Eastern Province who tallied 5,547 pinfalls courtesy of Abdulah Lafi, Omar Al-Bargi, Adeeb Al-Khulaifi, Maeith Al-Qahtani, Mohammed Al-Najrani, and Abdullah Al-Qahtani. Makakh team of brothers Faisal and Fahad Al-Juraifani, Faisal Sugati, Ammar Turad, Majid Al-Aslani and Naif Bakheit claimed the bronze medal with 5,449 pinfalls.
The top 12 bowlers who qualified for the Masters were: Badr Al-Sheikh (4955), Ahmed Al-Hithiyyan (4669), Mohammed Al-Najrani (4656), Hassan Al-Sheikh (4612), Faisal Al-Juraifani (4580), Maeith Al-Qahtani (4577), Faisal Sugati (4573), Adeeb Al-Khulaifi (4561), Abdoh Al-Barqi (4552), Fahad Al-Ajlan (4518), Majid Al-Aslani (4514) and Fahd Al-Juraifani who collected (4469 pinfalls).
Meantime, a merit system is to be put in place to pick members of the national team. Points will be awarded to bowlers in each of the event they participate. At the end of the season the best 12 Saudi bowlers will compete in a Masters event. The national team members will hence come from these top 12. Al-Qahtani said, “We really look forward to this new idea and are certain it will give a great and fair opportunity for the good ones from all Saudi districts to win a place on the national team.”
